With A Pinch of Love by Hayden Hall

OMG - you just want to pinch Marshal through this entire book!  With a Pinch of Love is a very slow burn, very sweet best friends to lovers story. 

From the Author:

There's no one recipe for it, but every happy ending needs a pinch of love.

DALTON

I have it all figured out. I’m going to marry the woman I love and I’m going to put in the work for that promotion. Life can only get better from here on out.

Or so I thought. My blushing bride elopes minutes before the ceremony and turns my life upside down. I’m now heading to Vermont with Marshmallow to seal the deal on his soon to be Bed and Breakfast.

After a series of unfortunate coincidences, Marshal and I are fake-dating, but my long repressed desire starts lurking from deep within.

Impossible. I’m not bi, right? I can’t discover that at twenty-nine, can I? It must be the breakup trauma; nothing more. It’s got nothing to do with my homophobic upbringing, surely.

But my broken heart flutters more every time I see him.

MARSHAL

My best friend stole my first kiss and I’ve loved him ever since.

Dalton doesn’t know it, though. Nobody knows. It’s only written in dozens of unsent letters I can’t bring myself to destroy and finally move on.

I can’t stand pretending to be his boyfriend when pining after him is all I’ve ever known. And I can’t let us fool around even when he kisses me again. He’s heartbroken and lonely – that’s a far cry from being in love.

I will not be his rebound.

The charming small town of Rocky Springs quickly gets under our skin and it doesn’t take much to make me fantasize about our future here. Except it’s all fake. Dalton has a career to go back to once his heart is healed and I am building my future here.

We’re a lost cause.

Heather's review:

Slow burn is right!  This book is definitely a lesson in reader patience in such a good way!  Both characters have things to work out and it plays out in the pages of the book perfectly.  What I love is that this book didn't just bring the characters together at the first opportunity - there was a bit of angst, a truly introspective bi-awakening and an unfolding story that kept the burn going.  I love how invested I became in both Marshal and Dalton, as well as the cast of side characters!  Fair warning though, do not read this book while hungry, there is a lot of love shown through food.

I hate to say it Hayden, but there's no way you are going to get away with making this a stand alone - we need more Mrs. Keyes and you set up book 2 perfectly with your addition of Jesse as a character - just sayin. This book had excellent, albeit small,  world building and it would be a shame to waste the town of Rocky Springs, Vermont on just one book.  

If you want a new take on the Best Friends to Lovers trope, you are going to want to pick up Hayden Hall's With a Pinch of Love, currently available for preorder, but out on September 15th and will be available for purchase or to read in KU.

Rating 5/5 stars